Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television
| image = | image_size = | episode = 60 | prod_code = 4ACV06 | season = 5 | airdate = August 3, 2003 | runtime = 30 minutes | director = Brian Sheesley | guests = | writer = Lewis Morton | storyboards = | subtitle = Controlling you through a chip in your butt since 1999 | cartoon = | preceded_by = "A Taste of Freedom" | followed_by = "Jurassic Bark" }} "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Televison" is the sixtieth episode of Futurama. It aired August 3, 2003. Plot Cubert and Dwight enjoy watching All My Circuits and wish to live the life the characters do. Because their birthdays are coming up, they invite kids but only Tinny Tim comes over. While watching All My Circuits, the robot actor who plays Calculon's son, Antonio Calculon Jr., breaks during live filming, so the studio calls for replacements. Bender, desperate to get the part, boos every applicant, as Calculon thinks there is an audience. When Bender comes up, Fry and Leela's cheering get him the part. In Bender's first scene, he is supposed to be put in an irreversible coma. He doesn't like the part and does his antics on camera, even going so far as to say his catchphrase "Bite my shiny metal ass". Calculon only does one take so they can't reshoot. Though the director has every intention of firing Bender, the Network Execubots come with the Network President, a laptop. Bender's antics as an independent character who interrupts all of Calculon's life have been testing positive. This gives kids a bad role model, especially Dwight and Cubert. The boys try smoking and drinking, and give up after realizing "all the stuff that Bender does makes us barf." Hermes and Hubert form the Fathers Against Rude Television, and protest Bender's television appearance. Dwight, Cubert and Tinny Tim decide to imitate Bender's acts by robbing him. The three take most of Bender's stuff as Fry was too busy reading to notice. They host a party where everyone acts like Bender. Farnsworth uses his Cool-O-Meter to discover the boys were the thieves. When Bender himself finds out, he declares his support of FART. Together, they go to the studio to demand that all TVs be equipped with a v-chip to censor Bender. But the network executive refuses to let him quit and both sides put a gun up to him. Bender distracts them and takes their guns. He talks to the world through television and asks parents,"have you ever tried simply turning off the TV, sitting down with your children, and hitting them?" Back at Planet Express, Farnsworth agrees that they should turn off the TV once in a while. Ongoing Themes Injury, Coma * Fry is hit in the face by a beer bottle thrown by Bender. * Antonio falls out of the sky with a bad parachute and lands on his face. * Emotitron, Jr.'s mother beats him with patch cords. * Antonio (played by Bender) falls into a permanent coma. * Dwight makes himself barf by toking on a cigar. * Bender sets himself on fire. * Orphan Albert makes himself barf by puffing on a cigar. Character Arcs * Sal is all but unintelligible. * Farnsworth pronounces the word "what" correctly, twice. Doppelgängers Bender takes an acting job, the role of Calculon's son on All My Circuits. Hermes and Zoidberg Hermes asks Zoidberg why he is at a children's party, but in only a mildly scolding tone. Category:Episodes Category:Season 4 Category:Bender Episodes Category:Farnsworth Episodes Category:Hermes Episodes Category:Cubert Episodes